Respecting human rights and UK Modern Slavery Act Statement

Respect for human rights is critical to the sustainability of our business. We take our human rights obligations seriously and demonstrate this by committing to operate in a manner consistent with the United Nations (UN) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the 10 UN Global Compact principles.

Our commitment to operating to the highest standards of business integrity in relation to human rights and our strategy of focusing on the development of large, long-life operations bestows on us both an opportunity to make a positive contribution to the realisation of a wide range of human rights and a responsibility to respect human rights and mitigate human rights related risks.

Our approach

Within our operations, we contribute to the realisation of human rights through our rigorous approach to workplace health, safety and labour conditions, ensuring security activities are consistent with the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, while also respecting the land tenure rights of landowners and the rights of communities that live near our operations. Read more.

Human rights governance and management

Governance oversight of BHP’s human rights performance is the responsibility of the Board’s Sustainability Committee as part of its mandate for monitoring health, safety, environment and community performance. Each of our operations assigns accountability for compliance with our mandatory human rights performance requirements to appropriate senior managers and leaders. Read more.

Human rights in our supply chain

The human rights commitments in our Code of Business Conduct apply to our contractors and suppliers (where under relevant contractual obligation). Our Requirements for Supply standard (PDF 108 kb) sets minimum mandatory health, safety, environment, community and business conduct requirements for all BHP suppliers. These include zero tolerance requirements in relation to the following:

Child labour

Children must not be hired to work before completing their compulsory education (as determined by applicable local laws). Notwithstanding local requirements, the minimum age for entry into employment must not be younger than 15 years of age.

Forced or compulsory labour

The supplier must affirm there is no forced, bonded or involuntary labour.

Freedom of association

The supplier must:

adopt an open attitude towards the legitimate activities of trade unions;

allow their workers’ representatives to carry out their legitimate representative functions in the workplace and not be discriminated against.

Living wage

Wages and benefits paid for a standard working week must satisfy, at a minimum, national legal standards or local industry benchmarks, whichever is higher. In nation states where no minimum wage legislation exists, the supplier must seek to establish a living wage that provides an adequate standard of living for all its employees and their dependants.

Non-discrimination and diversity

The supplier must:

provide a work environment in which everyone is treated fairly and cultural, ethnic, religious or other

assign responsibility for health and safety to a management representative.

Community interaction

The supplier, and in turn its employees, must treat members of the community with dignity and respect. They must not impact on the health, safety or wellbeing of members of the community by engaging in activities such as threatening behaviour, violence, sexual exploitation or abuse, or verbal or psychological harassment or abuse.

Treatment of employees

The supplier must create and maintain an environment that treats all employees with dignity and respect and must not use any threats of violence, sexual exploitation or abuse, or verbal or psychological harassment or abuse.

UK Modern Slavery Act Statement

The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires companies carrying on a business in the UK which supply goods or services and have a total annual turnover of £36 million or more, to publish an annual statement describing the steps it has taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not occurring in its supply chains or in any parts of its own business.